Learning from a Drastic Failure: The Case of the Airbus A380 Program

How do organizations learn from a drastic failure? We distinguish between ad hoc and systematic reactions and discuss their effectiveness for dealing with two basic challenges: (1) identifying and solving the problems that caused the failure; and (2) changing the organization accordingly. We apply this conceptual perspective to illustrate the dynamics of learning from the drastic failure that occurred during the development of the Airbus A380 “superjumbo.” Our findings echo extant observations that efforts to redesign organizational behavior in an ad hoc manner are often insufficient. Instead, the organizational system must provide scaffolding that allows experiencing a critical event in a rich and systematic manner. When seen from a dynamic perspective, however, we find that even imperfect ad hoc efforts may play a vital role. By enforcing changes, providing stability, and raising awareness, they can act as a helpful prelude to more systematic problem solving and change.     

Program Report: The Advanced Technology Program: A New Role for NIST in Accelerating the Development of Commercially Important Technologies

The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is a new extra mural program operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration. The ATP will help enhance U.S. competitiveness by funding the development of pre-competitive, generic technologies in partnership with industry. This paper describes the ATP, the first ATP awards made by NIST, and the prognosis for the success of the ATP.     

Drexel's E4 Program: A Different Professional Experience for Engineering Students and Faculty

In 1988, Drexel began a project which involves a comprehensive restructuring of the lower division engineering curriculum. The program provides an early introduction to the central body of knowledge forming the fabric of engineering, the unifying rather than parochial aspects of engineering, experimental methods, the computer as a flexible, powerful professional and intellectual tool, the importance of personal communications skills, and the imperative for continuous, vigorous, life-long learning. The subject matter is organized in four major components replacing and/or integrating material in thirty-seven existing courses in the traditional curriculum. The theme of all activities is a central focus on the students as emerging professional engineers and the faculty as their mentors from the very beginning of their education. To date, 500 students and 50 faculty have participated in the project. Preliminary results of evaluations are encouraging. Retention rates and achievement levels are high. Performance tests indicate that most students develop excellent levels of computer and laboratory skills. Their written and oral presentations demonstrate achievement of superior levels of communication skills. Personal interviews and evaluations indicate that student response is quite positive and they place a high value on faculty participation in a team effort. Both faculty and students indicate that this different experience has given them an insight into the importance and scope of the engineering profession and a sense that its practice can be exciting, rewarding and enjoyable.     

数字技术在特种电影制作中的一次成功应用--IMAX 3D影片《极地特快》观后感

2004年12月初在我去欧洲进行业务考察前就 听说,北美和欧洲的IMAX影院正在和普通35mm 影院同步上映一部含有多种数字技术制作的IMAX 3D电影《极地特快》,这部影片是华纳兄弟娱乐公 司用一种新的数字技术(表演捕捉技术)制作的普 通平面(2D)35mm动画故事片,IMAX公司通过 数字技术先把影片变成三维立体(3D)影片,然后 再放大成IMAX70mm15片孔影片。这一消息引起 我极大的兴趣。很幸运,我和考察团的其他同事在 伦敦的IMAX影院有机会看到了这部刚上映的 IMAX3D影片。 这部影片是曾经合作过《阿甘正传》及《荒岛 余生》的奥斯卡奖得…     

Adopting an Open Innovation Program with Supply Chain Management in China: A Case Study

This study examines how an open innovation program can be implemented in practice by a foreign company operating in China with due consideration of traditional supply chain management practices. A case study of an open innovation initiative in a renowned global electrical appliance company in China is explored. The study has found that supply chain managers can play an important role in innovation sourcing, provided an open innovation perspective is adopted. In addition, an open innovation framework complemented by an open innovation funnel is presented. The framework provides new practical insights for engineering managers seeking to implement open innovation programs. The study bridges the gap between academic studies and industrial practice regarding the roles of different functional units in an environment of open innovation.     

Student Cooperative Learning Workshops Go Mainstream: UMR's Excel Program

We offer cooperative learning workshops to all students enrolled in our largest lower division math and science courses where failure rates are high. Participation in the workshops is related to retention and higher academic achievement among engineering students of various abilities. In the tradition of workshops developed for disadvantaged students in mathematics, science, and engineering, our students meet outside of class in structured group meetings. Our contributions to this tradition include application to a broader range of courses, the inclusion of all types of students, and enhanced training of workshop facilitators in small group communication methods and modern leadership techniques. Our approach is readily adaptable to most institutions.     

Cluster-Based Technology Policy—The German Experience

The German Federal Government has undertaken a series of particularly interesting policy experiments in the field of technology policy in recent years, a major policy innovation being the explicit recognition of regional clustering aspects in federal support programmes. The paper provides a categorization and assessment of these policy experiments and tries to shed some new light on two fundamental policy questions that are important beyond the German context: (i) can clusters be built by national government policy action? and (ii) is regionalization of technology policy a suitable means of achieving goals at the national level? We find that utilizing the regional level to boost national innovation and competitiveness can—under certain conditions explicated in the paper—indeed be seen as a promising means of achieving national goals. More specifically, we find that InnoRegio type programmes might be particularly useful in regions with distinctive structural problems such as the Central and Eastern European countries, whereas BioRegio type models might be a suitable means of policy‐making at the level of the European Union.     

论相似性思维与技术创新

根据相似理论，本文论述相似性思维对技术创新的决定性作用，并据此提出了工程相化的概念。文章论述了自然界的一切事物遵循存在的相似规律创造的，任何一项技术的形成和色对不可能在与其他技术隔绝的情况下单独向前发展，因此认为相似性思维过程是进行技术创新的主要思维过程，它是妄动创新活动的发动机。文章还认为对事物进行相似性分类是科学研究的第一步，制造工程中产品设计的模块化、系列和标准化，就是在科学分类基础上实现快     

The Engage Program: Implementing and Assessing a New First Year Experience at the University of Tennessee

The Engage initiative at the University of Tennessee addresses the needs of entering engineering students through a new first year curriculum. The program integrates the engineering subject matter of the freshman year, teaches problem solving and design by application, and seeks to address the increased retention and graduation of engineering students. Noteworthy curriculum features of the Engage program include a hands‐on laboratory where students do physical homework to practice the concepts introduced in lectures, placing all freshman engineering students in a year‐long team design curriculum, and a team training course where engineering upperclassmen are trained in team facilitation techniques and placed as facilitators with the freshman design teams. The Engage program was piloted during the 1997–98 academic year with 60 students. In 1998–99, the program was scaled up to 150 students, and fully implemented with the entire freshman class of 465 students during the 1999–2000 academic year. Engage students have shown a significant increase in academic performance compared to students following a more traditional curriculum. Graduation statistics show the positive long‐term results of this effort.     

Social Ties and Indigenous Innovation in China's Transition Economy: The Moderating Effects of Learning Intent

This study advances research on innovation by unfolding a particular innovation type, indigenous innovation, into three patterns (i.e., original innovation, integrative innovation and re-innovation). We examine how social network ties (business and institutional) influence indigenous innovation and the moderating effects of learning intent. Results from 270 Chinese firms indicate an inverted U-shaped relationship between business network ties and each pattern of indigenous innovation. In contrast, institutional network ties affect original innovation in the shape of an inverted U, while they facilitate integrative innovation and re-innovation in a linear manner. Learning intent shows significant moderating effects on these main relationships.     

创新科技 服务生活

PPG工业公司是80年代末最早在中国进行投资的全球性涂料公司之一，在中国制造及销售七大类产品，包括汽车涂料、工业涂料、汽车修补漆、包装涂料、航空涂料、建筑涂料及玻璃纤维。PPG在天津、苏州、昆山、淄博等地共设有七家生产工厂，拥有超过2700名员工，在华投资总额超过三亿美元。 日前，本刊记者采访了PPG包装涂料亚太区总经理陈明良先生，他对企业的经营策略和管理有独到的见解。     

关于技术创新问题的若干认识

讨论了科学、技术、工程、产业的本质与含义，研究了科学-技术-工程-产业的知识链，指出技术、工程与经济的关联程度远高于科学与经济的关联程度。文章强调科学与基础研究是资金向知识的转化，而技术创新则是在资本的支持下，使知识通过市场向效益、利润的转化。工程师是新生产力的重要创造者，也是新兴产业的积极开拓者。工程师要面对的是不同层次、不同领域、不同尺度上的技术创新。在经济快速成长时期，应该更加重视工程师的创造性劳动。培养大批工程技术创新人才是推进经济发展、社会进步的必然要求。     

颠覆性技术创新潜力评价与选择研究:TRIZ理论视角

通过对颠覆性技术产生动因的分析可知,新技术的颠覆性创新潜力可通过其在不同的创新轨迹上解决原技术与市场冲突、自身技术发展与市场冲突的能力进行评价。在建立评价体系基础上,通过专家打分,运用灰色模糊综合评价方法,较为客观和有效地评价了新技术的颠覆性创新潜力,为政府培育和企业选择颠覆性技术提供新思路。     

The Buttonhole Technique of Fistula Access: A Personal Experience

Iam a 16-year home hemodialysis patient using the buttonhole method of needle insertion into my arteriovenous fistula. From the beginning of my home training I was taught to stick myself. Like most patients, I was taught to rotate needle sites up and down my arm. I used this method for 10 years. In 1990, I learned about the buttonhole technique; I started using it and am still using it today with great success. In this method needles are inserted in the exact same holes. There is no pain with this technique, and there is a great sense of confidence in having fixed, well-known sites; I am certain to have a successful stick almost every time. The buttonhole technique practically eliminated infiltrations. Since I see no reason why the buttonhole sites cannot be used on a daily basis, I am looking forward to using the technique when daily hemodialysis becomes available.     

Interactive Multimedia Courseware and the Hands-on Learning Experience: An Assessment Study

An Experimental Bicycle Dissection Exercise was designed in which students perform an abbreviated and slightly altered version of the “Bicycle Dissection Exercise” offered in the Stanford course, “Mechanical Dissection.” Like the formal course version of the Exercise, student groups were supplied with a bicycle, tools, a manual, and an assigned set of questions; unlike the formal course Exercise, groups in the Experimental Exercise were also supplied with a multimedia stack that explained (through graphics, text, sound and movies) various aspects of the bicycle. This multimedia stack was created to enrich the dissection experience by providing information and background on the mechanics of bicycles. Three groups of students were videotaped performing this Experimental Bicycle Dissection Exercise. The videotapes were then evaluated by a multidisciplinary group of reviewers using a technique called Video Interaction Analysis (VIA). This paper presents a summary of the experimental assessment process and our findings regarding the educational value of the multimedia courseware in exercises with a hands-on component.     

Learning from the Experience of Others: An Experiment on Information Contagion

Advances in stochastic system analysis have opened the way toa reconsideration of the processes through which behaviors spreadin a population of individuals or organizations. One peculiarphenomenon affecting diffusion is information contagion (Arthurand Lane, 1993). When agents have to choose on the basis ofother people's experience, rather than relying on their owndirect observations, information externalities arise that drivetowards the emergence of the arbitrary, stable dominance ofone product over the competing one. We reproduced in controlledlaboratory conditions the process of information contagion.The experiments show that when agents can only resort to theobservation of other people's experience in choosing betweencompeting alternatives, the choice process generates some peculiarfeatures: (i) information contagion among subjects generatesself-reinforcing dynamics, amplifying initial asymmetries ofproducts' market shares; (ii) this in turn produces path-dependenttrajectories, highly dependent on early events in the choicesequence; (iii) arbitrary asymmetric market shares tend to bestable in the long run, exhibiting lock-in phenomena; (iv) agentschoice criteria are heterogenous, giving rise to a mix of positiveand negative feedback in the choice process, with the mix andthe timing of such criteria affecting the final outcome.